Fair Access in Bowls

What it means for your Club

In recent times, Clubs have been receiving regular communication and invites to forums and workshops with local councils or government groups on one key topic – Fair Access Policy. If your Club hasn’t received anything yet, it likely will soon.

Below we’re going to explain to you what Fair Access is and why it matters, what it means for your Club, what’s coming next, and how your Club can be prepared for the next steps.

So, what even is Fair Access…?

“Sport and active recreation is a fundamental part of the lives of many Victorians, and of many Victorian communities. But when our entire community does not benefit from this infrastructure in an equitable manner, this important pillar of our health, our culture and our identities as Victorians and Australians is contributing to unequal outcomes in sport and active recreation, and a wider culture of gender inequality in our communities.” (Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, 2022, Fair Access Policy Roadmap)

Off the back of work conducted by the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, the Victorian State Government passed a law that required each of the 79 local councils to adopt a Fair Access Policy by 1 October 2024. A ‘Roadmap’ was provided outlining targets, timelines and the guiding principles behind the Policy. At its core, Fair Access is a tool to provide the best sport participation opportunities and experiences to all Victorians.

The six guiding principles

Principle 1 – Community sports infrastructure and environments are genuinely welcoming, safe, and inclusive
Principle 2 – Women and girls can fully participate in all aspects of community sport and active recreation, including as a player, coach, administrator, official, volunteer and spectator
Principle 3 – Women and girls will have equitable access to and use of community sport infrastructure:
- a. of the highest quality available and most convenient
- b. at the best and most popular competition and training times and locations
- c. to support existing and new participation opportunities, and a variety of sports
Principle 4 – Women and girls should be equitably represented in leadership and governance roles
Principle 5 – Encourage and support all user groups who access and use community sport infrastructure to understand, adopt and implement gender equitable access and use practices
Principle 6 – Prioritise access, use and support to all user groups who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to gender equitable access and use of allocated community sport infrastructure

Ok, but how does that effect my Club?

65% of Bowls Clubs in Victoria are either on council, crown or state park land. Every one of these Clubs will have some form of lease agreement with a government body that must, by law, have a Fair Access Policy. The State Government has put this responsibility onto councils as it’s the most efficient way to ensure every community sport Club in Victoria meet the requirements.

For the majority of community sport and recreation Clubs, councils are primarily the owner or controlling body responsible for facilities and their related tenancy agreements. If your Club is part of the 65% under council control, then as a tenant, it’s pivotal you understand and meet all obligations in your rental agreement regarding adhering to council policies and regulations, that now includes a Fair Access Policy.

Stage one of the Policy rollout was that gender equitable access and use policies were in place as a criterion to secure Victorian Government funding. So even if your Club isn’t part of the 65% but are applying for any grants or other government support and funding, you’ll need to meet the Fair Access criteria.

What does my Club need to do?

Each council is at a different stage of their action plan for how to deliver Fair Access across every sporting club in Victoria. Step one is reviewing the “sport and recreation” or “leisure” page of your local council’s website (typing ‘fair access’ into the council website’s search box should lead you to key documents as well). If the answers about timelines and what’s required for your Club aren’t in those documents, engaging with the Sport and Recreation Officers at your council should provide greater clarity. Some different stages that councils may be at in their action plan (and ways that your Club can get involved) are as follows:

Creating Sport and Recreation Strategy Questionnaires/Surveys (complete so your Club’s voice and needs can be heard)
Conducting online or in person Sport and Recreation Strategy Development Workshops (if your Club has been invited to participate in a workshop, get involved so you can drive how sport is administered in your council with a lens to bowls-specific needs)
Delivering Fair Access or Gender Diversity Action Plan education workshops (send a Committee Member to learn directly how to meet council’s expectations for clubs)
Building Fair Access into rental and tenancy agreements (ensure you’re across all Fair Access requirements within your council by set timelines to ensure you’re compliant with any agreement conditions)

This seems like more work for volunteers, what happens if we don’t do this?

Fact of the matter is, this has now been written into law. Councils are enforcing that law in different ways, with one of the most common approaches being linking the Policy to lease agreements.

Given this is all new to clubs and they may be required to adapt/adopt policies and action plans that comply with new council requirements, most councils are being incredibly supportive with clubs. Be it running workshops, governance and leadership education sessions, creating templates or having one on one visits with clubs to help them through the process, council sport and rec officers are there to facilitate the required changes.

There appears to be a bit of a carrot or the stick approach across different councils in terms of what levers they pull to encourage clubs to get involved. Some councils providing rewards like retail vouchers, uniform grant funding or even rental discounts for early adopters of Fair Access actions that align with the Policy principles. Others however are applying more stringent conditions on clubs, including lower preferences on access times to grounds and rooms (for locations where multiple clubs use one site), greater reporting requirements about your facility and membership to council, and limiting access to council funding and grant support.

How are Bowls Vic helping us with this?

Bowls Victoria has taken a few steps to help Clubs as much as possible with these changes. We’ve met with over a quarter of councils across the State to understand how they’re implementing Fair Access.

One of the key questions we’ve asked is their understanding of bowls as an open-gender sport and how they’re treating sports like bowls with no gender limitations differently to sports that have clear men’s and women’s sides. The key difference that councils have commonly identified isn’t so much to do with gender as it is rental type, with different requirements on their seasonal leases (6-month leases like football and cricket clubs using the same ground at different times of year) and their annual leases (bowls, tennis and basketball/netball facilities). The benefit of this is that most councils are addressing their seasonal lease sports first, given they are often more difficult to manage and have a wider range of tenants at one facility (multiple football clubs using one oval for example). This means that there’s a slightly longer timeframe for annual leases like Bowls Clubs to learn about and adopt required Fair Access actions.

Our Women in Bowls page on the website will be up and running very soon so you can view resources such as policies and case studies that can help inform and shape ways you can meet your council’s Fair Access requirements. The ongoing Women in Bowls Project and established work in the space heavily aligns with Principle 1 of Fair Access.

We’ve committed funding to support upskilling women across Victoria in areas of coaching and club governance, directly addressing Fair Access Principles 2 and 4. More news will be coming about how your Members can access these opportunities via your Region shortly.

Final words…

While Fair Access may seem like another burden placed onto clubs, it’s important we remind ourselves why this Policy has been introduced across the sport and recreation sector, statewide.

At the end of the day Fair Access is about creating better and more welcoming environments for everyone across society. Physical spaces, club cultures, boards, sub-committees and volunteer opportunities should be welcoming for all. Fair Access may have been driven by the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation, however these aren’t women only issues. Adopting policies and following these principles will make your Club a better place for existing and prospective members and guests alike.